Microbial Enzymes in Nanotechnology …
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et al. 2015). Other exclusive characteristics of enzymes that include better yields
and reduction in waste generation offer flexibility in relation to operating conditions
required in production reaction. Enzymes mostly replace chemical processes if they
effectively compete on a cost basis in the chemical industry. They mostly necessitate
less energy, produce high yield titer with improved catalytic effectiveness, catalyst
waste and by-products are minimized and lower volumes of wastewater streams are
generated (Sanchez and Demain 2017).
2 Microbial Enzymes: Sources, Nature and Production
2.1 Sources and Nature of Microbial Enzymes
Since the entire living organisms generate enzymes, therefore three diverse resources
of enzymes can be proposed: microbes, animals and plants. However, the expenditure
of production increases with increased complexity of living systems from microbes to
plants to animals. Microbes are usually utilized for production of enzymes being the
most primitive of living systems. Also, they are popular for many industrial processes
because of factors including low cost, low energy, nontoxic and eco-friendliness
(Illanes et al. 2012; Choi et al. 2015). Many microbes like actinomycetes, fungi,
yeast and bacteria intracellularly or extracellularly generate resourceful and attractive enzymes having vast diversity of structures and thus commercial applications.
Microbial enzymes, for instance, proteases, amylases, pectinases, xylanases, lipases,
laccases and cellulases, are extracellularly synthesized while catalases among others
have been produced from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Aspergillus niger as intracellular enzymes (Liu and Kokare 2017). In relation with their rankings, the highest
percentage of enzymes applicable in industries are synthesized by yeast and fungi
(about 50%), followed by bacteria (35%) and plants (15%) (Saranraj and Naidu
2014). Microorganisms are the foremost source of enzymes because they synthesize superior concentrations of extracellular enzymes. Microorganisms utilized for
enzyme production include more or less fifty generally regarded as safe (50 GRAS)
bacteria and fungi species among which bacteria are largely characterized by Bacillus
licheniformis, Bacillus subtilis and various Streptomyces species while fungi are
typically embodied by Aspergillus, Rhizopus and Mucor (Sanchez and Demain 2017).
Microorganisms of marine origin have a different range of enzymatic activity
and they can possibly catalyze various biochemical reactions with new enzymes.
Thus, there is massive scope for the researches exploring the prospects of deriving
new products of economic significance from potential marine microorganisms (Sabu
2003). In comparison to enzymes of plant and animal sources, enzymes from microbial sources present several advantages. Enzymes from microbial sources are more
active and stable and this is because preferred strains are able to synthesize wellcharacterized and purified enzymes on a big scale through the improvement of
fermentation processes. Also, microbial enzymes exhibit high yield, present ease
187
et al. 2015). Other exclusive characteristics of enzymes that include better yields
and reduction in waste generation offer flexibility in relation to operating conditions
required in production reaction. Enzymes mostly replace chemical processes if they
effectively compete on a cost basis in the chemical industry. They mostly necessitate
less energy, produce high yield titer with improved catalytic effectiveness, catalyst
waste and by-products are minimized and lower volumes of wastewater streams are
generated (Sanchez and Demain 2017).
2 Microbial Enzymes: Sources, Nature and Production
2.1 Sources and Nature of Microbial Enzymes
Since the entire living organisms generate enzymes, therefore three diverse resources
of enzymes can be proposed: microbes, animals and plants. However, the expenditure
of production increases with increased complexity of living systems from microbes to
plants to animals. Microbes are usually utilized for production of enzymes being the
most primitive of living systems. Also, they are popular for many industrial processes
because of factors including low cost, low energy, nontoxic and eco-friendliness
(Illanes et al. 2012; Choi et al. 2015). Many microbes like actinomycetes, fungi,
yeast and bacteria intracellularly or extracellularly generate resourceful and attractive enzymes having vast diversity of structures and thus commercial applications.
Microbial enzymes, for instance, proteases, amylases, pectinases, xylanases, lipases,
laccases and cellulases, are extracellularly synthesized while catalases among others
have been produced from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Aspergillus niger as intracellular enzymes (Liu and Kokare 2017). In relation with their rankings, the highest
percentage of enzymes applicable in industries are synthesized by yeast and fungi
(about 50%), followed by bacteria (35%) and plants (15%) (Saranraj and Naidu
2014). Microorganisms are the foremost source of enzymes because they synthesize superior concentrations of extracellular enzymes. Microorganisms utilized for
enzyme production include more or less fifty generally regarded as safe (50 GRAS)
bacteria and fungi species among which bacteria are largely characterized by Bacillus
licheniformis, Bacillus subtilis and various Streptomyces species while fungi are
typically embodied by Aspergillus, Rhizopus and Mucor (Sanchez and Demain 2017).
Microorganisms of marine origin have a different range of enzymatic activity
and they can possibly catalyze various biochemical reactions with new enzymes.
Thus, there is massive scope for the researches exploring the prospects of deriving
new products of economic significance from potential marine microorganisms (Sabu
2003). In comparison to enzymes of plant and animal sources, enzymes from microbial sources present several advantages. Enzymes from microbial sources are more
active and stable and this is because preferred strains are able to synthesize wellcharacterized and purified enzymes on a big scale through the improvement of
fermentation processes. Also, microbial enzymes exhibit high yield, present ease